The Brighton Society for the Blind library holds literature in various formats. We have books in large print, braille, moon and on tape. All of the tapes and the recent large print books were donated to the Society.

The most popular format are the books on tape, the section for this has grown dramatically over the last few years since they have become more popular with mainstream audiences. We currently have 740 titles in our tape library, the bulk of which are thrillers and mysteries, though we also have a fair section of classics and a few music tapes. While this is a lot of titles, a huge section is constantly on loan and we are always happy to receive new tapes, especially as tapes become stretched or damaged as they age. Most books on tape are abridged, but we do have a few which are not.

The Society runs a postal library for members who are housebound or outside our cachement area as far as transport is concerned. When someone joins our postal library they are sent a complete list of stock and then send in their choice, for example twelve titles they would like to borrow. We then send them one to two titles at a time, depending on the number of tapes involved. When they send the tapes back we send some more out until we need a new list. The tapes are sent for free using the Royal Mail 'Articles for the Blind' service, but we do have to buy special wallets to put the tapes in, and so members often give us a donation when they join to cover this cost.

We also have a small selection of audio describe video tapes. These tapes work in a standard video recorder and have an extra soundtrack which describes what is happening on the screen and inparticular purely visual set up shots which otherwise have no meaning to a partially sighted or blind person. These video tapes can be watched by a sighted person and the voiceover does not intrude on the film as a whole.

The library also has information in large print, braille and tape on a variety of matters, including holiday hotels, eye problems, and general information such as postings from local authorities.

Request for donations

We are currently trying to increase the books available in the library. So if you have any books on tape you have finished with, or any other type of literature suitable for the partially sighted, please contact us:

The Library
Brighton Society for the Blind
William Moon Lodge
The Linkway
Brighton
BN1 7EJ

Items for the partially sighted can be sent to us free of charge (in Britain) if you clearly mark the envelope or package "Articles for the Blind" when sending it to us, and it is openable for checking by the Post Office. Many padded envelopes now come with little tags to seal them rather than using the stick flap for when sending through customs, these are perfect as the contents can be checked easily without any chance of damaging the item. If you are sending from outside Britain please check with your local postal service to find out whether they too have discounts for these items.

We are currently asking people across the Internet to help us with tape donations, for more information about this please go to the Books on Tape appeal page.

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